Grand Canyon Education: Falls after Citron alleges financial fraud

Grand Canyon Education

28/01/2020 18:29

** Education services provider's shares  LOPE.O  fall ~9% to
$83.33 after short-seller Citron cuts PT to $0 from $30 in Sept
    ** Citron says it has documented "Enron-like fraud" https://citronresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/LOPE-The-Educational-Enron.pdf
 at LOPE, says Grand Canyon University (GCU) has become a
vehicle for executives to obfuscate co's true financials 
    ** On Sept. 9, Citron, while placing PT at $30, said it did
not believe negative ruling on GCU's non-profit status was a
potential risk
    ** On Nov. 7, LOPE fell to two-yr low after GCU said Dept of
Education refused to grant it non-profit status    
    ** As of Monday's close, LOPE fell 17.7% since Citron's Sept
report
    ** Stock was one of Citron's winners on the short side,
according to its 2019 annual investor letter  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN29B0Q5
    ** Median PT on LOPE from 3 brokerages is $118 
    ** LOPE shares fell ~0.4% in 2019, after rising for three
straight years

 (Reporting by Nishara Karuvalli Pathikkal)
 ((Nishara.KaruvalliPathikkal@thomsonreuters.com;))